Page 7 of Raven's Instinct
“HI AMY!” Gil hollered, hanging upside down.
There was a woman standing just beyond the gate, a child in her arms who straddled the boundary between baby and toddler. The girl was adorable, but the woman was absolutely arresting, with brilliant blue eyes in a pale face framed in short, golden curls.
Alan wasn’t sure which of them was Amy until Gil added enthusiastically, “HI AMY’S MOM! I’M UPSIDE DOWN!”
Alan rotated Gil and set him down, completely ignoring the other children clinging to him as he strode forward. He would have guessed it would be impossible to feel instinct underneath the hum of all the nearby shifter children, but it was burning now, like a magnetic draw.Be here, be now.
“Hello, Gil,” Amy’s mom said, but she didn’t look at the little boy at all. She was staring back at Alan like she couldn’t help it. “Are you supposed to be here?” Her voice was suspicious.
Alan wasn’t sure there was anywhere else in the world that he could possibly be at this moment. “I’m Alan,” he said gravely, which didn’t really answer the question.
“MISTER PEED OFF!” Gil volunteered.
Amy’s mom chuckled at that.
“Petrov,” Alan said, mortified. “Alan Petrov.” His raven only chortled.
“I’m Kendra,” she said with a cautious smile. “Kendra ‘Amy’s mom’ Emerson. Is…Addison here? Or Cherry?”
“Cherry’s in back with Shea,” Alan told her.
“And Addison was peeing,” the person in question said, coming up from behind Alan. “I will be so happy to have this baby off my bladder.”
“PEED OFF!” the children chorused.
“You’ve met AlanPEEtrov,” Addison said, flashing Alan a sympathetic look. “He’s helping out at Tiny Paws for a little while.”
Kendra’s look was definitely skeptical, and she didn’t immediately offer to pass Amy over the gate. Alan felt his raven fluff in affront. Wasn’t instinct telling her that he was safe? Sudden doubt stabbed at him. Was it possible hewasunsafe? A fighter’s instincts weren’t always appropriate for nurturing. He was here to protect the children, but was he really the best choice?
Kendra seemed to make up her mind, and she nodded courteously and passed the sunny-haired child to Addison. “I feel like I should wish you luck,” she said wryly to Alan.
“He’s done great so far,” Addison said warmly, bouncing Amy in her arms. Amy stared at Alan with the same reserve as her mother did, eyes round with stranger danger, clutching atAddison. “We threw him right in the deep end, and he’s changed two diapers so far and not dropped anybody.”
“HE CAUGHT ME!” Gil explained. “CAN YOU CATCH ME MORE?”
“Maybe after lunch,” Alan suggested. He realized rather belatedly that the children who had been clinging to his legs had given up on coaxing him back to play and had wandered back to the toys while he stared at Kendra like a loon.
Like a raven,his bird corrected.Ravens are better than loons.
Addison walked away with Gil pestering her. “When is lunch? Is it now? What will I get to eat?” Amy waved back over her shoulder at her mother.
And Kendra and Alan were still in a weird standoff over the gate.
“Amy’s an owl, right?” Alan said, exactly as Kendra said, “So, Amy’s an owl.”
They both laughed. “I am, too,” Kendra said warily, and Alan wondered if her cheeks weren’t slightly pink. It could still be from coming in out of the cold.
“Raven,” Alan said, offering the same trust in return. He was already realizing that working in a day care required a certain amount of necessary transparency, but mostly hewantedto tell her.
Give her something shiny, his raven suggested, when Alan cast about for something else to say or do.STEAL IT FOR HER.
“I’m not doing that,” Kendra muttered, and Alan realized she must have been talking with her owl at the same time. “Sorry,” she added. “I’m getting terrible advice right now.”
“Birdbrain is a definite thing,” Alan agreed. “I’m being advised to pick up a life of crime and shoplift you some diamonds or something.”
SHINY,his raven repeated.
“Diamonds are better than the dead rodents my owl is suggesting,” Kendra giggled.
